Phoenix Archives - AnthonyGanzer.com

February 6, 2009September 26, 2021

Private Education in Tough Times

With a struggling economy, it seems people are tightening belts and rethinking budget plans. Lawmakers and city leaders are still trying to hash out exactly how to deal with budget shortfalls, and more Arizonans are trying to weather the storm with a state unemployment rate of nearly 7 percent. The push for fiscal prudence has also made it to Arizona’s independent and private schools, though so far those schools are fairing well.. KJZZ’s Tony Ganzer reports.

December 31, 2008June 18, 2023

New Year, Some Old Problems

The festive holiday season had clearly arrived, along with the commercials for payday loans or video games, there were more homeless men and women seeming to flood vacant street corners with sometimes curious signs.

Phoenix is an anomaly because of its climate.

A warm summer prevents homeless residents from panhandling during the day. It’s just too hot, and every year people literally die from the 115 degree highs.

But during the holiday season homelessness is more evident, though the legitimacy of those in need is not always clear.

November 25, 2008September 26, 2021

Prague, a city of culture

Phoenix maintains partnerships with cities around the world as a way to promote cultural and economic ties. The sister cities program includes partnerships with places in Mexico, Canada and Japan. But it’s a relationship with the city of Prague—the capital of the Czech Republic—that is the focus of our next story. KJZZ’s Tony Ganzer traveled to Europe on a fellowship, and found a city rich in culture and history that few Phoenicians know much about, even though there are close Arizona ties.

November 19, 2008September 26, 2021

Raising Kids: Clean Breathing

Today we begin an occasional series about raising kids in Arizona. We’ll look at some of the benefits and troubles associated with raising children in the state. In the coming months we’ll address issues like safety, education, culture, and this morning we look at a health issue. KJZZ’s Tony Ganzer reports that kids in the Valley sometimes have a hard time finding clean air.

October 18, 2008September 26, 2021

Transatlantic Immigration Reforms: Guest Workers

Like many countries Germany is still trying to solidify its immigration policy. Part of the continuing debate rests in how to better integrate former guest workers who helped build up the country in the 1960s and 70s. The United States has considered a similar guest worker program, and some of the lessons learned by Germany may signal how the US goes about its immigration reforms.

(Editor’s Note: This story was written in Germany, but subsequently produced and edited in the U.S. It is a 12-minute profile of German and U.S. immigration policy, and past, focusing on guest worker programs. The audio provided is from Deutsche Welle Radio’s “Insight.”)

October 4, 2008January 20, 2017

Recrudescing in the Desert

It was clear when the wall-o-warmth hit me in the jetway, and again by the friendly faces of disdain in the terminal, that I had returned to America, and to the desert, after a short 13.75 hours in the air, not counting a glorious layover in the Newark airport. My ink-stained fingers could not deny it: the chapter of 2 months in Germany had ended.

Continue reading “Recrudescing in the Desert”

October 2, 2008November 10, 2019

A Guest Worker Program that Works?

KJZZ’s Tony Ganzer has been investigating the Guest Worker program instituted by Germany in the 1960s and 70s, in hopes of finding something the US could use in its own efforts to reform immigration policy. Germany is still coping with the effects of its program, and as Ganzer reports, some experts say the US may not have better luck if it rolls out its own guest worker program.